What is TEACCH and where does it come from?

TEACCH is a popular, highly acclaimed system used in educating and communicating with people with Autism. Unfortunately, many people on the Autistic Spectrum do not speak and appear not to listen to anything people say. Some of our service users have used sign language, e.g. Makaton to communicate, but this limits them to only conversing with other people who know the language.

TEACCH is a communication system based around pictures which everyone can understand and relate to.

Richard Herrick, TEACCH Coordinator

In case you’re wondering, TEACCH stands for the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped CHildren. For many years, staff working with Autistic service users have used pictures to communicate, but in the early 1970s Eric Schopler, working in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, developed a full treatment programme for Autistic children. TEACCH was born and has since been adopted by autism programmes around the world and has helped thousands of families in many countries.

	How Does TEACCH Work?		How Do We Use the TEACCH Principles for Planning and Education?
	Is TEACCH Only Used for Planning and Education Using the Boards?